Overheating...

[Airborneguy]

First day with the MH, and man it raised my temp to 84F! Looks like I'm going to have to figure out a way to lift them above the water and put fans across the surface. A chiller is out of the question, way too much money.

Does anyone see a problem with creating two lifts with 2x4's which will sit at each end of the light? It would be totally stable and, niether would be near a bulb. I'm going to keep the MH's off until I get this figured out and get my hands on some fans.

 

[Lorna]

My mh lights are about 6 inches off the top and about 8 inches from the water surface. Fans help and running a fan across the surface and across the surface of your sump will help. If that fails then you may want to time your mh lightis to come on in the evening rather than through out the warmest part of the day.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

PVC!

 

[Joe Fish]

woah, that's cool!

I used 2 computer fans before and they worked very nicely. I hooked them up to a timer and had them turn on only when the MH were running.

 

[Cichlid-Man]

You can essentially build something like my PVC setup with wood, though unless you finish it, it might look a little to distracting IMO. I like PVC because its not huge and won't really catch your eye as fast as wood and its light and i can move that easy.

Have you thought about going to look at some piping or something along those lines from a hardware store? That is if you cared about looks....if not wood is simple and will work.

 

[TRe]

how far from the surface do u have them? i had the same problem and since adding the fan my temp goes up to about 81-82 which is fine..... u dont really want the temp swing to be more than 4-5 degrees

 

[Cichlid-Man]

Won't fans cause more evap? Not a huge deal just something to think about.

 

[TRe]

definitly more evaporation but its worth it if wer talking about wether the tank is stable or not

 

[Airborneguy]

If it is stable, but at 84, is that okay? I was figuring 84 is too high whether it stays there or not. Right now, the lights are maybe 2-3 inches off the surface of the water. I'll be improving on whatever I use, but the wood will be a quick fix which I can get done on monday.

 

[Joe Fish]

84 degrees isn't the end of the world, but get it down if you can. You don't want to go any higher than 84.

Yes, fan will create a lot more evap, but that's how they keep the tank a little cooloer. So you will need to keep up on diligent top offs if you don't have a ATO.

I would definitely move the lights up a little higher. If you tank isn't too deep you could move them up.

 

[BalaShark]

Like Matt, I have mine hanging about 16" above the water. My MH's are just hanging on changes that are connected to the rafters, but then again, my tanks are build in, so it doesn't matter what it looks like behind the wall. All you see is the front of my tanks, with the back of the tanks painted black.

 

[Airborneguy]

I'm thinking of a few options, but for now, I'm probably going to have to go with the wood. I can't really hang because the ceiling is angled where the tank is.

 

[1979camaro]

Even if the ceiling is angled, you can hang from it...the force of gravity is downward so no matter what angle the free swinging pendulum (your lamp) is mounted to it will hang parallel to the tank.

 

[Airborneguy]

I know it can be done, its just that since it will need at least two/three wires, it will be a real pain to get them all perfectly measured. I'm not exactly Mr. Handy....